I'm sweet :)

It was a bit of a hectic morning - neverending loads of laundry and getting 3 girls ready to go to the pool.  Need I say more??  But then I got this little heads up from a good friend of mine, Starla, that I had a nice little surprise on her blog :)  I met Starla over at Guylou's Inimitability's group at the CDAC and she is just the sweetest gal you'll ever talk to - and mad talented, too!  I'm sure she'd love for you to stop on by, take a look around, and say hi!  Click here to go and visit Starla's blog!

My surprise was this "sweet" little award that I am thrilled to receive and honored that Starla would think of me!!  Thank you so much sweetie!!!  Mmmm, looks so yummy, too ;)

Part of receiving the award requires you to share 7 things about yourself and then pass it along to 8 other bloggy friends that you find Irresistibly Sweet :).  Here are my 7:

1.  I looooooove coffee.  Drink it in the morning, drink it at night...and I have a humungo container of cinnamon by my machine so I can sprinkle some in with every cup to make it extra yummy!

2.  I say I'm dreading the teenage years with all my girls, but I'm secretly looking forward to them growing up and us all doing big girl things together :)

3.  I actually love Jack's Big Music Show on Nick Jr. and get upset when my girls refuse to watch it!

4.  I would give my right arm for a 2nd honeymoon with my hubby since we haven't vacationed since our 1st!

5.  I abhor scary movies.  I'm a big scaredy cat and I am willing to admit it, lol.  If I actually try to sit thru one, I won't be able to shower without the curtain drawn for like a week - no lie.

6.  I love my wax warmer and having some kind of vanilla-y, coconutty, buttery goodness wafting thru the air especially while crafting :)

7.  Going to Paris, drinking wine, and eating bread and cheese at a outside cafe is on my bucket list.

Phew!  LOL, that was harder than I thought!  Ok, now onto the 8 women I feel deserve this award.  This is super hard too because so many friends I've "met" through this crafting blogworld are so deserving of it so how do you narrow it down to 8?   Nonetheless, here are my picks!:

1.  Kim - It's All About Crafting

2.  Brenda - Brenscraps

3.  Trina - Trina Makes Stuff

3.  Dorcas - Dorcas Designs

4.  Faye - Stampin' Fluffnstuff 

5.  Cheryl - She Stamps

6.  Karen - KraftyKaren's Blog Spot

7.  Chris - Chris' Crafty Creations from the Corner

8.  Roxann - Three R Girls Scrap

Thank you ladies for your friendship and your inspiration!!

Sweet Summertime Challenge

Morning guys and gals!!  We've all made it through another week, and thankfully, we're heading into a glorious summer weekend.  And what better way to start another weekend then with a challenge over at Guylou's Inimitability hosted by my "sweet" friend and teamie, Gina!!! 

Gina's theme for this challenge is Sweet Summertime!!  You just gotta take a minute and hop on over to her blog and see her summerlicious creation!  For your creations, the word "sweet" must be visible on the face of the card (not the inside!!) and should have something to do with summer and/or warm weather i.e. the beach, sun, sand, picnic, summery foods like ice cream or watermelon, bathing suits, flip flops.

I decided to use the image, Leah eating Watermelon, my new favorite from Guylou's and merged it with the image offered as the stamp of the month from Designed2Delight called Spring Fence.  The awesome sentiment is by my other sweet friend and teamie, Tracy S., which is available in the Guylou's Inimitability Store!! 

I imagine Leah enjoying family and friends in her backyard with this hock of watermelon, and greeting guests at her garden gate.  She's tended to her garden all day and is now enjoying the warm summer sun and the people she loves the most.

So I hope this has inspired you to play along with us and show us your sweet summery creations!   You have plenty of time to play along since the challenge doesn's end until June 30th at 10p.m.!  The winner wins the "sweet" prize of becoming Guest Designer for an upcoming challenge AND is awarded a $5 gift certificate from Guylou's Inimitablity Store!!!!

Recipe:
Medium:  Faber-Castell Watercolor Pencils
Images:  Leah eating Watermelon from Guylou's Inimitability & Spring Fence by Designed2Delight
Sentiment:  Tracy S. available at Guylou's
Paper:  K& Company Happy Trails,  DCWV Mat Stack Brights

Challenges:
Stamp Something - Pretty Papers
Totally Papercraft Challenge - Die Cuts or Punches
Southern Girls - Anything Goes
Totally Stampalicious - Anything Goes
Bearly Mine Challenges - Anything Goes
Whimsy Doodles - To Die For

Beach Goddess

Hi friends!!!  My oldest had her last day of school today which officially marks the summer season for us here at our house.  Hooray!!  No more making lunches, homework, projects and early mornings scrambling for outfits!  To celebrate, I felt I needed to make a card for her - it's been kind of a rough year for her with the move, but she did exceedingly well with all the changes and managed to come home with straight A's!!  I really couldn't have asked for a better daughter and I'm so proud of her!!

I had gotten this image from a sweet friend of mine awhile back and hadn't done anything with it - thought it would be perfect.  Jimmy Buffett and Jimi Hendrix lent some inspiration as I was coloring it and it took me back to a place with tall umbrella drinks and warm sand between my toes - lazy days at the beach with nothing to do but work on my tan. 

Looking at it now, I'm not sure that I will actually give this one to her (I'm a little old fashioned and still believe in pigtails, lol).  I'm thinking I might just keep it to say hi to a friend instead. ;)

Recipe:
Medium:  Watercolor Pencils
Image:  Beachy Bratz (coloring page found on the net)
Sentiment:  TLC
Papers:  Bazzill Textured Bright cs and Close to My Heart Moon Doggie Paper Pack
Bo Bunny Candy Jewels
Glossy Accents (on mouth)
White Souffle Pen (eyes and jewelry)

Challenges:
Tip Top Tuesday - Open Challenge
Delightful Challenges - Anything Goes
Paper Sundaes - Girly Girl

Berry Sweet Birthday

My daughter was sooooooo excited today because she was going to her best friend's birthday party!!  She hasn't seen her best friend since our move exactly two months ago, and although my daughter has already made some friends in a short amount of time, she's missed her every day.  Every day this week, there was a party countdown.  5 days until the party, 4 days until the party - well you catch my drift ;)  She just couldn't wait to get there and see all her old friends. 

I wanted to make her best friend a cute little card for her birthday using one of the Freebie Friday images from Bugaboo Stamps.  Thankfully the card is out of the house - the strawberries and frosting were making me so hungry just looking at it ;)

Recipe:
Image:  Berry Fairy Cupcake by Bugaboo Stamps
Sentiment:  Made with Print Artist
Paper:  American Crafts cs in Rouge and Bazzill in Rain Forest
Digi Paper:  Birds Gingham Brights
Embossing Folder:  Swiss Dots
Stardust, Lime Green and Xmas Red Stickles
Glossy Accents
Red Pearls & Red Ric Rac in stash

Challenges:
The Outlawz - Tuesday Color Challenge Summer Party June 7
Simon Says Stamp - Let's Get Fruity
Crafts4Eternity - Recipe #23 Color Challenge
Sweet Stampin' Challenge Blog - Food Glorious Food

H is for Hugs

The new round of challenges is underway over at the CDAC.  If you haven't had a chance to check them out this week, then you seriously need to!!  The images this week are amazing!!

One of the freebies offered in the Freebie Digi Challenge is this cutie from Melissa T. Liban Illustrations.  Immediately, I thought it would be cute for a Father's Day card for my Dad from the girls. 

Isn't it precious?!  The corrugated paper behind the image came from my Dunkin' Donuts coffee holder.  Nifty way to recycle ;)  I thought it looked like a wood fence behind Daddy Bunny, swinging his little one in the backyard :)

Recipe:

Image:  freebie on CDAC by Melissa T. Liban Illustrations

Sentiment:  TLC

Papers:  Bazzill cs and pp in stash

Stickles:  Cotton Candy (nose) and Diamond (tail puff)

Challenges:

Creative Inspirations - Challenge 61 - Fathers Day

Paper Sundaes - Challenge 72 Lets Get Sentimental

One Stop Craft Challenge - Week 34 Texture
Paper Crafting Journey - PCJ Challenge 11 Anything Goes

 

Monochromatic Challenge at Guylou's!

Happy Friday my friends!!!  It's time for a brandy-new challenge over at Guylou's Inimitability and this week's theme was chosen by the fabulous Guylou herself!  So what theme did Guylou choose for us this time around, you ask?  It's a toughie but a goodie :

MONOCHROMATIC!!!!

My MIL just adopted two kittens that are from the same litter (they are the sweetest little things you've ever seen!).  I wanted to make her a card to Congratulate her on the newest additions to her little family, which she calls her set of twins.  I was talking to her on the phone the morning after their first night home, and she was telling me how she loved hearing the pitter patter of their little feet - her late cat, Midnight, had passed recently and it was super quiet in the house.  Gina and her Furbabies seemed like the most perfect image to use and together with this sentiment from TLC - was even more purrrfect :)  Since I had just recently made her a purple Mother's Day card (that being her most favorite color), I decided on this card, I would go with green as it's her birthstone color and she adores Emeralds. 

 

So there's my go at Monochromatic!  The challenge runs from today until June 16th at 10 p.m.  Hopefully this has inspired you to get all Mono with your creation and play along with us because the lucky winner of this challenge will be awarded two digistamps of their choice from Guylou's Inimitability Store and will also be invited to be a Guest Designer on an upcoming challenge.  Wait - it gets better !  There's more!!  The lucky winner will also be awarded a one year PDF subscription from Through The Craftroom Door magazine - a value of $17.  Sounds like a challenge worth playing to me!!

Recipe:
Image:  Gina & her Furbabies
Sentiment:  Crafty Pad Stamp Designs
Papers:  DCWV The Shimmer Stack and MME
Lime Green Stickles on stars
Pure Color Essentials Wired Sheer Ribbon
Martha Stewart Crafts Craft Seam Binding
Cameo Rose in Aqua by Prima Flowers

Challenges:
The Outlawz - Monday Greetings Challenge 5/30 GC053011
Stamp Something - June Digi Day Challenge


Based on deconstructed sketch #3 by deconstructing jen  (challenge ended 6/1)

Thoughtfulness

A friend of the family gave us a housewarming present which I totally needed and loved....bath towels!!!  And I am not being sarcastic, I was pretty ecstatic about this, lol!  Nothing like a soft fluffy one in just the right colors!!

Anyway, now that the holiday weekend is over and life is starting to return to normal, I was able to sit down and make her a thank you card.  I found this adorable image over at Michelle Perkett's PCP group as a thank you for reaching a member milestone.  I absolutely love this girl and thought she looked like she was curtseying all prim and proper to thank someone.

The colors were inspired by the Tuesday Color Challenge this week over at The Outlawz which were:

and by the Wednesday Sketch Challenge this week there which was:

as well as the Bingo Challenge over at MPS this week with the Pearls, Ribbon and Die Cut row:

I hope you'll feel inspired and stop on over to check out all these challenges - they were so much fun to play with!!

Recipe:
Medium:  Watercolor Pencils
Image:  Rosestamp by Michelle Perkett Studio
Sentiment:  TLC
Papers:  The Glittler Stack by DCWV and The Luxury Stack by DCWV
Wilton Mini Heart Doily
Cotton Candy Stickles
Self-adhesive pearls
Offray Small Ribbon Rose
Trim in stash

Challenges:
Michelle Perkett Studio - Bingo Challenge
The Outlawz - Wednesday Sketch Challenge 6/1
The Outlawz - Tuesday Color Challenge 5/31
The Crafty Purple Frog - Things of Beauty
Cute Card Thursday - Embellish It
Fab-n-Funky Challenges - What'eva
ABC Challenge - V is for Variety
Spoonfull of Sugar - Flower Power